In many communication systems, packets are sent to and from communication sites to facilitate communication. In communication systems utilizing a Voice over Internet Protocol (IP) protocol, these packets are commonly referred to as datagrams.
In typical voice over IP networks, each communication site sends datagrams to other communication sites. There are different approaches to sending datagrams in Voice over IP (VoIP) networks. When data integrity is important, packets can be sent utilizing a more reliable protocol that will utilize error control, retransmissions, and other techniques that increase the likelihood that the datagram will get to its intended destination.
However, in voice applications, there is typically not adequate time to detect that a packet is missing or contains errors and have time to send a message to the sender and have the sending site process this message and resend the message. Typically, in voice applications, if a packet is in error or not received, the packet is discarded and the communication continues.
Consequently, in typical voice over IP applications, there is no way to know whether the communication link between the communication sites is functional because the communication sites do not attempt to resend packets that are not properly received. This "send and pray" method allows no feedback to the communication sites to alert them to a faulty communication link between the communication sites.
Thus, a need exists for a method for evaluating a communication link between communication sites.